As memory type audios have become common, users daily carry a large number of songs with them. With memory type audios that allow their users to listen to a large number of songs continuously without need to change mediums, a style in which the users not only successively listen to songs of each CD album, but listen to songs shuffled in all CD albums and their favorite songs arranged as play lists has become common. It can be said that the degree of freedom of which the users listen to their favorite songs in their favorite orders not in the orders of songs recorded in albums has increased.
However, it is assumed that the users listen to each song from the beginning to the end. In addition, there is a non-sound region between songs. In other words, one song is the minimum unit. Thus the user has to listen to music on the basis of one song. The user's concentration, namely his or her enthusiasm, breaks at such a non-sound region between songs. As a result, the users are difficult to continuously listen to songs with his or her tension kept.
FIG. 23 shows conventional music reproduction using song A and song B. In this case, the two songs are reproduced with their original tempos. Of course, there is a non-sound region between these songs.
Thus a technique of combining a plurality of music materials and editing them was developed. Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2003-44046 discloses a technique of combining a plurality of music materials that are input through a user's keyboard and mouse and allowing him or her to interactively edit them and to enjoy the reproduced songs. In the technology, sound pieces such as sound patterns and one-shots and tips composed of effects applicable to sound pieces are assigned to individual keys of the keyboard. When the user presses the keys, tips corresponding thereto are combined and output. When a plurality of keys are pressed at the same time, corresponding tips are combined and output. In addition, when keys are successively pressed, corresponding tips are chronologically combined and thereby a song is composed.
However, with the foregoing technique disclosed as Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2003-44046, it was difficult to recompose a song by connecting parts of a plurality of songs in such a manner that their beats are matched like with a remix created, for example, by a disc jockey (DJ). A DJ is currently a common occupation. There are label companies that dedicatedly deal with remix music. The number of users who enjoy remix music is increasing.
The present invention was created from the foregoing point of view. An object of the present invention is to provide a music editing apparatus and a music editing method of editing of overlaying or connecting whole or part of each of many songs recorded in a record medium such as a hard disk or a flash memory with their beats matched. Another object of the present invention is to provide a music editing apparatus and a music editing method of connecting whole or part of each song situation by situation in real time and reproducing the connected song.